X-bit labs

Interview with VIA Technologies’ Ben Boyden (page 4)

Category: Chipsets

by Anton Shilov

[ 01/06/2004 | 09:23 AM ]

Future Products

X-bit labs: Are you fully ready to ship LGA775-supporting CPUs? Did you get all the licenses, etc?

Ben Boyden: Yes, we will support all flavours of the forthcoming Prescott processor. Our PT880 chipset, which has been shipping for a few months now, is fully ready to support the Prescott processor.

X-bit labs: Can you note brief features of your next-generation products for Intel and AMD, please?

Ben Boyden: Well, it is very difficult to talk briefly about all the chipsets we will be debuting over the next few months, as the first half of 2004 is going to be a very busy time for VIA on the chipset front, so I will just concentrate on the solutions I expect to be of most interest to your readers.

On the Intel processor platform, our first chipset to support PCI Express and DDR-II is the PT890, which is slated for launch by Q1 2004. Like the existing PT880 chipset, the PT890 will feature an asynchronous clock, allowing users to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the forthcoming Intel Prescott processors.

Meanwhile, on the AMD processor platform, in Q1 2004 we will introduce the K8T800 Pro chipset for the new 939-pin AMD Athlon 64, which will build on the very successful architecture implemented for the K8T800, with the addition of a 1GHz HyperTransport bus between processor and chipset and a new asynchronous bus design. Around the same timeframe we will also introduce the KT880, a dual-channel DDR supporting chipset for the AMD Athlon XP platform. Later on we will debut the K8T890, which we expect to be the first available PCI-Express solution for the AMD processor platform.

X-bit labs: How long do you plan to support AMD Athlon XP platform? Are there any new products apart from KT880 expected?

Ben Boyden: We will support the Athlon XP platform as long as there is a demand for it and AMD are willing to supply processors to meet that demand. It is likely that the Athlon XP platform will continue throughout 2004 and maybe even into 2005. The fact that very soon we will launch a dual-channel DDR chipset, the KT880, for the Athlon XP processor, shows our ongoing commitment to the platform. We will also be introducing the KM400A and KN400A IGP chipsets for desktop and mobile designs, as well, very shortly.

X-bit labs: Do you expect any PCI Express-supporting chipset products for the Socket A?

Ben Boyden: We are developing South Bridge solutions that will enable Socket A processor based mainboards to support PCI Express I/O expansion, but currently we do not have any plans to produce Socket A North Bridges with support for PCI Express graphics.

X-bit labs: Do you plan to obtain a license for Pentium M bus as well?

Ben Boyden: In fact the Pentium M also uses the GTL bus, i.e. the same as the Pentium 4. Regardless, the cross-licensing agreement we have with Intel already covers this. We will be announcing some exciting new chipsets for the Intel processor based notebook market in early 2004, so stay posted.

X-bit labs: Can you tell us something about your DeltaChrome plans or products?

Ben Boyden: S3 Graphics actually started shipping the DeltaChrome graphics processor in December, so you can expect new cards from vendors such as Club 3D anytime soon.

The DeltaChrome graphics processor features full DirectX 9+ compatibility, eight pixel shader and four vertex shader pipelines, and features a number of what we call “beyond gaming” features. These include native support for HDTV and the programmable Chromotion video engine. The total package makes DeltaChrome the only mid-range graphics processor to deliver a true “High-Def” viewing experience.

Throughout 2004 S3 Graphics will be introducing a series of graphics processors based on the DeltaChrome core for the desktop and notebook PC markets. 2004 will also see the launch of DeltaChrome IGP chipsets with support for DX9, from 2H ’04 onwards. As you are probably aware, support for DirectX 9 in IGP chipsets will soon become essential, especially with the arrival of Microsoft’s Longhorn OS.

X-bit labs: Is your subsidiary S3 Graphics ready for transition to PCI Express x16? Any PEG x16 GPUs are now sampling?

Ben Boyden: S3 Graphics is currently developing PCI Express graphics solutions, the first of which we anticipate being available in 2H 2004.